Growing up we had two department stores that we could go to.... Twin Fair and KMart.

The blue light special was always such fun as a kid watching them wheel it out and flip on the blue strobe that would magically summon all devotees of the lord of the bargain to the nirvana of $5 off a Mr. Coffee drip coffee maker. The epitome of luxury in the eyes of an 8 year old who would sit and intently watch the electric percolator on the counter sputter and spew water up into the clear cap on the top to drip back down through a container of sometimes reused grounds for 15 or so minutes.

Twin Fair was our main store being closer by two miles. January 1977 mom was trying to return a down puffer coat whose zipper started shedding teeth after only two weeks when our dad came in from the car (a rarity harkening something dark and sinister as he never left the car) to tell mom we had to leave. Looking out of the door the parking lot was gone, obscured by a wall of wind whipped snow crystals blown in off of Lake Erie signaling the beginning of the Blizzard of 77 which shut down Buffalo for two weeks resulting in the deaths of 29 people trapped in their cars.